Quiet Weekend

Clang. Clang. Clang!  Would it be rude of me to go secure my neighbor's halyard?

So, yesterday we headed down to Jacksonville, Fl to celebrate our friend finally finishing her Doctorate. It was a long, life altering journey for her and we were thrilled to be able to head down and enjoy the party.  :)

On our way back today we stopped at several pawn shops throughout Jax and a few in Kingsland, Ga.  We are trying to find a good deal on a dinghy/motor and had hoped to find a marine pawn shop. No such luck. But we did pop into the local Honda dealer to check out the generators.  A generator is moving rapidly up the list of priorities...

For some reason our house batteries are low today. The only thing we leave on in the boat when we are at the condo is the fridge.  Today we came on after being gone all week and the freezer had defrosted itself. It was due, so its cool. But thats not really how I had planned on defrosting... Good news is it seems to be really well insulated, so we didnt lose any food.  We have 3 solar panels - and they were on, so should've kept the batteries topped off. Guess we know what tomorrow's project is!

We just got back from an hour long post-dinner paddle, and are enjoying a sunset glass of wine. In fact, I am being chastised for blogging instead of chatting.  Talk to you guys later - Happy Saturday!

New Author!

Mark's going to start chiming in around here soon.  I think it will be great for you guys to hear things from different viewpoints.  It's interesting what sorts of things we each think should be blogged about - and even how the same story can be completely different from the 2 of us.  I won't bother to point out who is actually correct, of course.

I expect there will be much more technically related, yet sarcastic posts in the near future.  Stay tuned and let us know what you think!

Ps.
You should be able to tell who wrote each post, as the author is listed just under the heading of the post.

Wieners on a Boat - and a weekend of Firsts

Dogs on a boat are tricky.  I'm not talking a big Laborador or Golden Retriever that could lunge gracefully up and down the companion way stairs.  I'm talking tiny little (chunky) wiener dogs.  4" legs - long backs prone to injury.  And remember that post about how far we are away from grass?  Yeah - this is going to be a challenge.

We took the boat out Friday.  Leaving the dock was ugly - and there weren't even any bad winds/currents/ storms to blame this time...  We didn't hurt any boats, it was way just too close for comfort. We headed over to a marina and finally got some fuel.  We filled up in Ponce, FL - you know, a month ago, right before we motor-sailed for 27 hrs in the ocean to get her home.  Then we took her out one day for 4 hrs and another day for 2, and last weekend for a little bit...  The fuel gauge kept saying 3/4 tank, so I assumed it was stuck or something.  Turns out, if you look at it head on, instead of from the wheel, it says 1/2 full.  And when we, oh-so-gracefully this time, pulled her up to the fuel dock Friday afternoon, she took 18 gallons (in a 39 gal tank) of marine diesel.  I'd say that's some pretty good mileage.  We went hundreds of miles on 1/2 a tank of fuel.  THAT, my friends, is why we bought a sail boat!  And the fuel gauge is correct - a bonus find.

This was a weekend full of all kinds of firsts - for us and the dogs.  These guys (Molly and Libby)

used to have a back yard with doggy doors into the screened in porch and my art studio (with both A/C and radio in the studio).  They had a pool to swim in, frogs and squirrels to chase, neighbors to bark at incessantly - they were living the dog life.  Then we decided to up and move to the condo.  Here they are on a walking schedule.  They have to stay on a leash.  There's (thankfully) nothing living in the condo for them to chase.  They were getting fat and lazy.  So now we're throwing the currently-dinghy-less boat into the mix.  We wanted to head out for a 3 day weekend - and the dang dogs insist on peeing at least a few times a day.  Enter the paddleboards!

Pee break!  (and maybe some bird chasing)

We thought about it - this may actually be the First time the dogs have been to the beach.  Stupid no-dog beach laws.

They also tromped in the marsh, but I don't have pics of that mess.

Other firsts this weekend include:

Anchoring - sure we anchored out all the time in the teeny tiny Stingray - but in this beast?  We finally got to use the windlass.  It was cool!  And the anchor held just fine.

  

Anchor alarm - this is on the chart plotter and I set it for the 2nd lowest setting: .05  I freely admit I don't know what the unit of measure is.  It was just a WAG. (wild ass guess)  Turns out, that mystery unit of measure is less than the pivoting of the boat as the tide changes - as proven by the alarm sounding at 3am.  Fortunately, I was sleeping right next to the chartplotter and checked our position and turned it off quickly.

Sleeping on deck:  it. was. hot.  We could NOT get comfortable at our chosen anchor point.  The wind died.  The a/c's only work on 110 power - thus when plugged into the dock...The Breeze Boosters only boost an existing breeze.  So Friday night - to be the First night on the new bedding, turned out to be the First night sleeping in the cockpit.  I thought it was pretty nice, actually.  Under the stars.  And the almost full moon.

We finally got to use that whisker pole!  Our first wing-and-wing set up.

And most important?  Solo (us, together, but without a "real" captain onboard) navigation down the ICW, thru Ossabaw Sound into the ocean and back in thru Wassaw Sound.  I have to say that the chart plotter was a huge relief in these activities.  I was also tracking everything in our chart book, but in the treacherous waters here - full of moving sand bars and mud flats - it was nice to see the depth and channel on-screen as well as in the paper charts.

Last but not least, I have officially been deemed Captain - by default, I suppose. I was a pretty adept captain of the 18' power boat, but this beast has a mind of her own. All those surgeries last year have made my chest muscles pretty useless.  That's not ideal when you're plowing toward someone else's boat.  I simply cannot fend us off of boats.  It's frustrating.  But after the almost-disastrous trip out of our slip Friday, it was quickly determined that I really need to be at the helm so that he can fend us off.  I just drive really r e a l l y slowly up to docks/our slip - and it seems to do the trick.  I'm sure with practice it won't make me want to throw up.  

I've started getting more emails from you guys out there - yeah, you, lurking.  I know you're there, and now I'm getting the emails to prove it.  Thanks for stopping by - and we LOVE the emails!  Keep 'em coming.  It helps to know that these posts are not just floating off into neverneverland.  Don't forget you can also follow us on Facebook for extra junk.  I post random pics and status updates when I just don't have the time to blog.  Thanks again for following along!

Sweet dreams?

First off, I've finally taken one of our digital cameras on the boat, so after this post, most of the pics will hopefully be from it, not my phone...  I'm not brave enough to take the DSLR onboard yet, but I'll work up to it.  You know those annoying people that seem to spend more time taking pics of doing stuff than actually doing the stuff? Yeah, I might be one of those people...  The pic content will both improve and increase in short time.  I promise.

Anyway.  Here's a little project I took on this week - the one I was whining about here a while back.  I am a light sleeper in even the best of circumstances.  When you throw me on a boat with 11 year old 3" thick bed cushions, I'm no happy camper.  After last weekend's lack of sleep - on both our parts, and he'd sleep through a hurricane if I let him - I knew it was time to do something.

 I swear I got a bruise on my hip just from sleeping on this torture device

I did a little measuring and online research then headed off to the local Sam's Club to pick up this beauty.  It's not only supposed to add a layer of foam, but it claims that it's a "cooling" foam.  We both hate being hot when we sleep, so this is definitely an option I liked!

I was not very impressed with this.

And when I saw it out of the box I was even LESS impressed.

I had to unroll it and let it "expand fully".  It was smelly - a little chemically.

I have to say, even after it was expanded, I was still not impressed.

I wanted to do a test run on the sucker before I cut it to fit.  We anchored out Friday night - but for reasons unrelated to the bedding we could NOT sleep.  We headed back to the dock on Saturday and plugged in our A/C shore power - and Voila!  11hrs of sleep!  It. Is. Magical.  I was even able to sleep on my stomach.  I haven't slept on my stomach since April 2012.  It was that fabulous.

Rainy Saturday

I'm working on videos.  I'd love to add videos to the blog, not just photos.  Here's a rough one - but I learned a lot about the software that's on the computer and that was really the goal.  It's super short.  Look at all those clouds!  The rain bands just kept coming for days - literally.

(The song is Our Love is Easy - Melody Gardot.)